Fresh off of winning the 50th anniversary game for the Pit, the Lobos head back out on the road to take on Illinois State. This game is part of the Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge, where most of the teams from the two conferences are playing each other. It’s a good opportunity for the conference to prove its mid-major superiority, so hopefully the Lobos can do their part to help.
Category: Lobo Basketball
Women’s Basketball Game 6: At NMSU
The Lobos (2-3) are currently on a three-game losing streak, having lost at Texas Tech and two home games against Tulsa and Saint Joseph’s. They are looking to get back on track on the road against NMSU (4-2), who they dominated in their first meeting a couple of weeks ago, winning going away 84-55. In the first meeting, the Aggies had no answer for Rachelle van der Keijl, who finished the game with 19 points (9-12 FGs), 20 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots. It would be safe to assume the Lobo coaching staff will make it a point to get van der Keijl and Jaisa Nunn involved early and often in this rematch. The Lobos also had great games from Alex Lapeyrolierie (22 points, 5-12 3P FGs) and great playmaking by Cherise Beynon, who tied a Lobo record with 15 assists.
Trends:
Since it has been a few games since we have caught up with the Lobos, here are a few of the trends that have caught my eye.
Good Trends:
- Rachelle van der Keijl has been fantastic early this season for the Lobos, leading the team with 16.2 points, 12.4 rebounds and 2.2 blocks a game. Look for Coach Bradbury to make a point to play through the post more as the season goes along.
- Jaisa Nunn has been great coming off the bench so far this season, teaming up with van der Keijl to form a great 1-2 scoring punch in the post. Nunn is averaging 12.4 points and 8.8 rebounds in 23 minutes a game. After not attempting a three-pointer last season Nunn is 2-7 (28.6%) from distance these first five games.
- The Lobos are shooting a lot of three-pointers, as expected. While they haven’t shot great from behind the line so far this season (28.8%), Alex Lapeyrolerie has been the one Lobo to shot well from distance, making 16-42 (38.1%). With the Lobos shooting three-pointers at such a high rate (26.4 attempts per game), if the Lobos can hit 10 threes a game, that would go a long way in being a high scoring team.
- While Cherise Beynon has struggled with her shot early this season, she has done well to make an impact setting up her teammates in good scoring chances and helping on the glass. So far this season, Beynon is averaging 8.6 points, 8.6 assists and 9 rebounds a game.
- The Lobos have had quarters where they have dominated their opponents. This shouldn’t be a surprise, considering the fast place they play at. When the Lobos are hitting shots from the outside and getting the ball inside, they are hard to stop and can build big leads in a hurry.
- The Lobos defense has done a good job limiting good looks for their opponents, holding them to 35.3% from the floor and 28.3% from the three-point line.
Bad Trends:
- Due to the lack of true point guards and great outside shooters, the Lobos can go through long droughts. During the Tulsa game, they scored 2 points during the second quarter. The Lobos will have occasional struggles scoring, but it isn’t because of style or lack of effort.
- Cherise Beynon has struggled from the floor so far this season, shooting 14-81 (17.3%) from the floor. I fully expect this number to go up, but the question will be how much, since last season Beynon shot barely over 30%. If the Lobos are able to shoot well the rest of the season, we could see Beynon being close to averaging a triple-double.
- Right now, the Lobos are averaging 14.8 turnovers a game, which isn’t horrible considering the pace they play at, but I would venture to guess that Coach Bradbury and staff would like to see that number closer to 12.
- The Lobos have struggled with turning their opponents over, with their opponents averaging only 11 a game. The Lobos need to find a way to force more turnovers to get in transition where our athletes should be able to get easy buckets.
Stat Comparison:
| Lobos | Aggies | |
| Points Per Game | 71.2 | 73.7 |
| Points Allowed Per Game | 65.2 | 61.8 |
| Rebounds Per Game/Margin | 51.6, +6.8 | 44.3, +1.0 |
| Assists Per Game | 16.6 | 16.8 |
| Turnovers Per Game | 14.8 | 15.3 |
| Steals Per Game | 4.2 | 12.2 |
| Blocks Per Game | 5.0 | 5.7 |
| Field Goal % | 37.6% | 39.4% |
| 3 Point% | 28.8% | 27.8% |
| Free Throw % | 55.7% | 67.7% |
| Opponent FG% | 35.3% | 35.3% |
| Opponent 3P FG% | 28.3% | 27.5% |
As we can see from the stats, these teams are evenly matched. I would be surprised if this isn’t a close game, unlike their first meeting in The PIT.
Prediction:
This should be a good matchup between the two Division I schools in the state. Due to the first meeting, I expect the Aggies coaching staff to make more adjustments than the Lobos to start the game. If changes aren’t made, we could see a repeat of the first meeting. I think this game is going to be a lot closer and will likely be a toss-up game between the two teams. I give the Lobos a 54% chance of winning the game, with the final being 79-75. Expect Cherise Beynon to make up for her bad shooting in the first meeting with a big game against the Aggies.
Game Info:
Who: New Mexico Lobos (2-3) at New Mexico State Aggies (4-2)
When: Wednesday November 30, 5:30 PM MT
Where: Pan American Center, Las Cruces, New Mexico
Steam: ESPN3
Men’s Basketball Game 7: Abilene Christian
The Lobos return home from their trip to the Wooden Legacy to celebrate the Pit’s 50th anniversary tonight. They’ll do so by hosting Abilene Christian, who they played in the Pit’s first game, which is pretty cool. Hopefully the Lobos will be able to celebrate in style.
Men’s Basketball: Thoughts from the Wooden Legacy
The Lobos spent the holiday weekend in SoCal, playing in the Wooden Legacy against a tough field. They ended up getting 6th place after going 1-2 with a loss to Virginia Tech, a win against Cal State Northridge, and a loss to Dayton. In some ways, this outcome wasn’t surprising, as they lost to the teams they were expected to lose to and beat the team they were expected to beat, but that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t disappointing in its own right. But, now that it’s over, there are a few things that we’ve learned about the team from this early part of the season.
Men’s Basketball Wooden Legacy Preview
It’s time for the Lobos’ annual trip to a holiday tournament, and this year they’re headed to Orange County for the Wooden Legacy. It’s a stacked field with a lot of good opportunities for wins, so hopefully the Lobos can take advantage. Because it’s a holiday and I’ll be in a cabin in the woods, instead of individual game previews, I’m just going to take a look at the tournament as a whole.
Men’s Basketball Game 3: NMSU
After a successful first weekend, the Lobos get back to action on Friday, when they’ll host in-state rival New Mexico State. This rivalry always seems to produce tense games, and this one should be no different. Hopefully that makes for a very, very loud Pit.
Women’s Basketball vs. NMSU Game Preview
The Lobos (1-0) got their season off to a good start with a dominating win against Fairleigh Dickinson, winning 83-56. It was a good matchup for the Lobos to shake off some of the rust and start to understand Coach Bradbury’s style of play without having to think about it too much. In that matchup against Fairleigh Dickinson, the Lobos could use their size to their advantage and received great games from Rachelle van der Keijl, Kianna Keller, and Jaisa Nunn, with each player collecting 9 rebounds and combining for 33 points. The Lobos will need to keep getting great games from their front court and use their great size as an advantage. Things will get tougher for the Lobos when they face NMSU (1-0) on Tuesday night, as NMSU is coming off a great season in which they went 24-5, including a sweep of the Lobos.
Men’s Basketball Game 2: Houston Baptist
After picking up a win against Idaho State on Friday, the Lobos will look to stay undefeated on the season tonight, when they take on Houston Baptist. This should be a game where the Lobos are able to build a big enough lead to get some of the younger players solid game experience, but they’ll still need to execute if they’re going to get a comfortable win.
Women’s Basketball Game 1: Fairleigh Dickinson
The Coach Bradbury era tips off for real on Saturday afternoon when the Lobos take on Fairleigh Dickinson in both team’s season opener. The Lobos will be heavy favorites in this game, but that doesn’t mean they can just show up and expect to win. Last season, Fairleigh Dickinson went 11-22 and had an RPI of 314. In comparison, the Lobos went 17-15 with an RPI of 171. This will be a good opening game for the Lobos before things get a little tougher in a couple of days, when they will take on NMSU.
Stat Comparison:
| Lobos | Knights | |
| Points Per Game | 61.3 | 64.8 |
| Points Allowed Per Game | 57.6 | 71.3 |
| Rebounds Per Game/Margin | 39.2, +3.3 | 39.6, +.5 |
| Assists Per Game | 13.5 | 11.5 |
| Turnovers Per Game | 14.6 | 18 |
| Steals Per Game | 8.8 | 7.5 |
| Blocks Per Game | 2.9 | 3.3 |
| Field Goal % | 37.7% | 39.7% |
| 3 Point% | 27.7% | 30.1% |
| Free Throw % | .651% | 71.5% |
These stats are from last season and there are quite a few changes for both teams, so it will be interesting to see how different the two teams are from last year.
Fairleigh Dickinson:
This could be tough year for the Knights, as they lose 3 of their top 4 scorers, including two players that averaged over 16 points per game. The top returning player for the Knights is Brianna Thomas, who averaged 6.8 points and 4.5 rebounds, if the Knights want to be good this season, Thomas must take a step forward and become a player that averages 12 points and 8 rebounds a game. The Knights will need newcomers and returning players to fill the void left by their star players from a year ago. In my opinion, Fairleigh Dickinson is one of the two most winnable games this season, so the Lobos need to make the most of this opportunity.
What to Watch:
- It will be interesting to see Coach Bradbury’s rotation early in the year. In his press conference earlier this week, Bradbury said he would like to use a 7-player rotation, which means a lot of players could get left out.
- How quickly will the Lobos be able to get comfortable playing this up-tempo style of basketball? If the Lobos can find good shots early in the shot clock and can keep turnovers to under 13 a game, the transition shouldn’t be too rough.
- How well will the two centers in the game at the same time play together? Kianna Keller and Rachelle van der Keijl will be the starting front court early this year for the Lobos, so it will be interesting to see how well that works.
- Is Cherise Beynon able to take the step forward and become the star of the team? Beynon shared the role with Shumpert as a sophomore last year and will be counted on for a lot of the Lobos’ success this season.
- The point guard position will be worth watching at all yea. How much will the lone true point guard Laneah Bryan play and who are the other players that will play the lead guard position?
Schedule Breakdown:
All records and RPI are from last season results, so while these will change from year to year, they will give us some understanding of who is good and who the Lobos should beat.
| Fairleigh Dickinson | 11-22 | 314 |
| NMSU H/A | 24-5 | 94 |
| @ Texas Tech | 13-18 | 143 |
| Tulsa | 12-19 | 190 |
| BYU/St. Joseph’s | 25-7, 14-15 | 22, 123 |
| SMU | 13-18 | 197 |
| Minnesota | 20-12 | 86 |
| UTEP | 28-5 | 36 |
| Eastern Illinois | 3-25 | 339 |
| @ Marquette | 14-16 | 105 |
The Lobos will play eight of their eleven non-conference games at home this season, which could allow the Lobos to get confidence going into the conference schedule.
Bold Predictions:
- Cherise Beynon will average 17 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals a game.
- Mykeil Burleson will average 8+ point and 3+ assists per game
- Kianna Keller and Rachelle van der Keijl will combine for over 5 blocks a game.
- Jaisa Nunn and van der Keijl will both average 8+ points and 8+ rebounds a game.
- Emily Lines will lead the Lobos in 3 Point % and average two 3 point makes a game.
- Lobos will finish in the top 4 of the conference.
- Lobos will win 20 games and make great strides as a team come January.
- Cherise Beynon will be named MW Player of the Year.
- van der Keijl and Nunn will make an all-conference team.
- Coach Bradbury will win coach of the year.
- Lobos will average 77+ points per game.
- Lobos will make a run in the conference tournament.
Game Prediction:
I have the Lobos winning the game against Fairleigh Dickinson easily. If the Lobos can play their style of play, you could be looking at a 20+ point win. I put the odds of the Lobos winning this game at 85% with the Lobos winning this game 85-63.
Game Info:
Who: New Mexico Lobos (0-0) vs. Fairleigh Dickinson Knights (0-0)
When: Saturday, November 12, 2 PM MT
Where: WisePies Arena AKA The PIT, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Steam: LoboTV
Men’s Basketball Game 1: Idaho State
It’s time for the first real game for the UNM men’s basketball team, as they take on the Idaho State Bengals in a Friday night matchup. After disappointing ends to the last couple of seasons, this looks like it might be a Lobo team that is worth getting excited about, so hopefully they’ll put on a strong performance to make people take notice.